Cold War
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From a German soldiers point of view, Cold War provided development opportunity for various countries.
Cold War involved a drastic power struggle. Although there was no physical fighting, an invisible war existed. The Cold War happened in virtue of the attempts of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to coercively extend communist control over other countries. This was counteracted by the United States and its allies on the ground of ideological opposition to communism as well as a dread of dominance of the world by the USSR.
The Cold War tension began immediately after the end of World War II when the USSR did not honor some of the agreements reached between the confederated countries. This related to the treatment of Germany and other countries in Eastern Europe released from German control. During the Yalta Conference in 1945, the USA, UK and the USSR leaders had reached consent to hold democratic elections in the liberated countries. Nevertheless, Joseph Stalin, the leader of USSR, was reluctant to respect this commitment after the end of war. He terminated nearly all contacts between the West and the territories in Eastern Europe under his control, and started to take action to install communist Governments in those areas. Consequently by 1948, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Albania, and Yugoslavia all formed Communist governments. Responding to this, USA determined to actively oppose extension of communism. In March 1947, USA adopted a policy to assist any free nation resist Communist attack.
In 1949, the Countries on side of USA set up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to oppose USSR. In the same year, the USSR also established the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) to unite the Communist-ruled states.
The two warring groups also had diversity over questions of developing and stocking nuclear arms. They engaged in sort of a race to develop nuclear and other military power. There was also resembling race in the region of space exploration. All this further enlarged the mutual distrust and fear between the two warring groups.